Magick is the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with will.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that magick involves both knowledge and creativity to enact one's desires.
Aleister Crowley's quote highlights the dual nature of magick, describing it as both a scientific discipline and an artistic practice. It implies that magick is not merely about supernatural forces; instead, it is a deliberate and conscious effort to create change in one's environment or life according to one's intentions. Crowley emphasizes the importance of willpower in this process, indicating that individuals have the capability to shape their reality through focused intent and informed actions.
In practice
In a workshop on personal empowerment, one could refer to this quote to illustrate the power of intention.
People think that talking is a sign of thinking. It isn't, for the most part' on the contrary, it's a mechanical dodge of the body to relieve oneself of the strain of thinking, just as exercising the muscles helps the body to become temporarily unconscious of its weight, its pain, its weariness, and the foreknowledge of its doom.
There is a single main definition of the object of all magical Ritual. It is the uniting of the Microcosm with the Macrocosm. The Supreme and Complete Ritual is therefore the Invocation of the Holy Guardian Angel; or, in the language of Mysticism, Union with God.
I was not content to believe in a personal devil and serve him, in the ordinary sense of the word. I wanted to get hold of him personally and become his chief of staff.
Magick is the Science of understanding oneself and one's conditions. It is the Art of applying that understanding in action.
I do not want to father a flock, to be the fetish of fools and fanatics or the founder of a faith whose followers are content to echo my opinions. I want each man to cut his own way through the jungle.
It will be seen that the formula - 'Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law' has nothing to do with 'Do as you please.' It is much more difficult to comply with the Law of Thelema than to follow out slavishly a set of dead regulations.
Obsessed by a fairy tale, we spend our lives searching for a magic door and a lost kingdom of peace.
The irrational in the human has something about it altogether repulsive and terrible, as we see in the maniac, the miser, the drunkard or the ape.
How could I bear a crown of gold when the Lord bears a crown of thorns? And bears it for me!
Nothing is secure. That is my message. Nothing can be secure, because a secure life will be worse than death. Nothing is certain. Life is full of uncertainties, full of surprises - that is its beauty! You can never come to a moment when you can say, "Now I am certain." When you say you are certain, you simply declare your death, you have committed suicide.
EXPLORING the world is one of the best ways of exploring the mind, and walking travels both terrains.
The older I grow and the more I abandon myself to God's will, the less I value intelligence that wants to know and will that wants to do; and as the only element of salvation I recognize faith, which can wait patiently, without asking too many questions.
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